Wake Forest Athletics
Men's Golfers Prepare For NCAA East Regional
5/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 13, 2006
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Wake Forest Enters NCAA East Regional With A No. 8 Seed
Wake Forest, the defending NCAA East Regional champion, received a bid to the NCAA Men's Golf Regional for the sixth consecutive year and for the 17th time in the last 18 years when the Demon Deacons were invited to participate in the East Regional May 18-20.
Wake Forest will be the No. 8 seed out of 27 traveling to the Lake Nona Golf Club in Orlando for the East Regional hosted by the University of Central Florida. The top 10 teams from each of three regionals advance to the NCAA Championships May 31 through June 3 at Crosswater Golf Club at Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, OR.
The field at the 2006 East Regional is stacked with many of the nation's top teams. Ten schools are ranked in the top 25, including No. 1 Georgia, No. 5 UCLA, No. 9 UNLV, No. 11 Georgia State, No. 12 North Carolina, No. 13 Texas Tech, No. 16 Wake Forest, No. 19 Southern Cal, No. 24 Charlotte and No. 25 Coastal Carolina.
Other schools also headed for Orlando, in order of seeds, include Auburn, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida State, Indiana, Notre Dame, Georgia Southern, Maryland, Jacksonville, Western Illinois, Wichita State, Rhode Island, George Washington, Richmond, Liberty, Army and Binghamton. Four ACC teams are in the East Regional.
No Suprise: It's The East Regional
The Deacons are in the East Regional for the fifth straight year. In fact, since regional play began in 1989, Wake Forest has been sent to a regional other than the East only once, in 2001. This marks the first time Wake Forest will compete in an East Regional in Florida.
Wake Is Defending East Regional Champ
Last year Wake Forest won its first ever regional championship when it took first place at the NCAA East Regional at the Golf Club of Tennessee in Nashville, TN. The Deacons, who finished with a score of 835, were led by then-sophomore Sean Moore, who tied for third overall.
Wake Forest also owns one individual title at an East Regional. Bill Haas finished first in 2004 at the Yale Golf Course.
Deacons Eye 42nd NCAA Berth
Wake Forest, looking to earn a berth to the NCAA Championships for the 42nd time and the second straight year, has three national championships to its credit. The Deacons won consecutive titles in 1974 and 1975 and won a third crown in 1986.
Wake Takes Fifth Place, Reifers Finishes Second At ACC Championship
Wake Forest senior Kyle Reifers shot 9-under par over the final 36 holes to come within one stroke of tying for individual honors and the Demon Deacons finished fifth in the team race for the ACC Championship at the Old North State Golf Club April 21-23.
North Carolina and Georgia Tech were declared co-champions when the two teams remained tied after two playoff holes. The Tar Heels and Yellow Jackets both finished regulation play 31-under par (833) at the par 72, 7,102-yard course.
Georgia Tech's Cameron Tringale shot 65-69-72--206 (-10) to take individual medalist honors. Tringale had to hold off a fast-charging Reifers to win the crown. Reifers opened the tournament with an even par 72, then fired off rounds of 67 (-5) and 68 (-4) to finish alone in second place.
For Reifers, his performance capped a brilliant ACC career in which he finished second, 10th, 17th and 29th in four ACC Tournament appearances.
Veteran Deacon Lineup Has NCAA Tournament Experience
Wake Forest will take five veteran players to the NCAA East Regional -- seniors Kyle Reifers and Doug Manchester, junior Sean Moore and sophomores Webb Simpson and Chris McCartin. It's the same starting lineup the Deacons used April 21-23 at the ACC Championship and it's the identical lineup utilized at last year's NCAA East Regional.
Reifers and Manchester will play in the NCAA Tournament for the third time. The senior duo both played in last year's NCAA Championship. Moore is also playing in his third NCAA Tournament. Last year at the NCAA Championship, he was the only Deacon to survive the individual cut.
This year, Reifers, Simpson and Moore all have at least one top-five finish. McCartin and Manchester own at least one top-10 finish.
Reifers, Simpson Earn All-ACC Honors
Wake Forest's Kyle Reifers and Webb Simpson were selected to the All-ACC Men's Golf Team.
Reifers is on the All-ACC team for a third consecutive year. The senior from Columbus, Ohio, owns a 72.36 stroke average. He placed in the top 10 in six of his 12 events, including a victory at the Mattaponi Springs Shootout in October.
Simpson, a sophomore from Raleigh, leads the Deacons with a 72.09 stroke average and has four top 10 finishes to his credit this season. His best finish came at the Mattaponi Springs Shootout when he finished second to Reifers. Simpson, last year's ACC Rookie of the Year, is on the All-ACC team for the second straight season.
Reifers and Simpson are the 59th and 60th Wake Forest golfers since 1975 to earn All-ACC honors.
Duke's Ryan Blaum was named ACC Player of the Year. Georgia Tech's Bruce Heppler was voted ACC Coach of the Year and Yellow Jacket Cameron Tringale was the Freshman of the Year.
Deacons Closer To Full Strength
Two of Wake Forest's top competitors -- sophomore Chris McCartin and junior Sean Moore -- each missed tournament time this year because of various ailments.
McCartin was diagnosed last fall with mononucleosis and did not return to full strength until recently. Moore withdrew from the Texas/GCAA Hall of Fame Invitational earlier this spring after feeling sick.
Wake Enters Postseason With Momentum
Wake Forest won two tournaments during the 2005-06 regular season -- the Mattaponi Springs Shootout in the fall and the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate in the spring. The last time the Deacons won two or more tournaments in the same season came in 2002-03.
Wake closed out the spring season on a high note. The Deacons finished first out of 15 teams at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate March 26-28 in Awandaw, SC, then closed the regular season with a third-place finish at the prestigious U.S. Collegiate Championship in Alpharetta, GA.
Sophomore Webb Simpson finished second at both events. Kyle Reifers, Doug Manchester and Chris McCartin also posted a top-10 finish in one of the tournaments.
Reifers Named One Of 10 Semifinalists For The Ben Hogan Award
Wake Forest senior Kyle Reifers was one of 10 semifinalists for the 2006 Ben Hogan Award, which goes annually to the nation's top collegiate golfer. The Ben Hogan Award, the most prestigious award in men's college golf, is presented annually to the top men's NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or junior college golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during the last 12 months.
Palmer Named One Of NCAA's 100 Most Influential Student-Athletes
Wake Forest legend Arnold Palmer has been named to the NCAA's list of the "100 Most Influential Student-Athletes", as announced by the NCAA. One of the most prestigious student-athletes in Demon Deacons history, Palmer has been pegged as No. 25 on the list.
While at Wake Forest, Palmer enjoyed an impressive career, winning two NCAA Championships (1949, `50) and was the first-ever ACC Champion (1954). As a professional, he played from 1955-2005 and won 62 PGA Tour victories along the way, including 10 Champions Tour victories. Named to the Wake Forest Hall of Fame in 1971, Palmer remains one of the most celebrated athletes at Wake Forest.
Two Sign Letters-Of-Intent
Two highly-touted high school seniors have signed men's golf letters of intent to play at Wake Forest beginning in 2006-07.
Brendan Gielow of Muskegon (MI) Mona Shores High School and Travis Wadkins of Dallas (TX) Trinity Christian Academy will both come to Wake Forest with an impressive list of credentials.
Gielow is the two-time Michigan High School Mr. Golf (state player of the year). He is a four-time selection to the Michigan High School Coaches' "Super Team," which is comprised of the top eight prep golfers in the state. Gielow is the only player to ever earn that honor four times.
Wadkins is the son of former Wake Forest All-American, WFU Hall of Fame member and current PGA pro standout Lanny Wadkins. The younger Wadkins, an honor roll student at Trinity Christian Academy, shot a career-low of 65 in 2005. He finished fourth in the Texas state high school championship in 2004.
Moore's North/South Amateur Crown Will Remain A Feather In His Cap
Sean Moore is a 20-year-old golf traditionalist who follows the history of the game. For the final of the North & South Amateur, he donned a pair of plus-fours along with a white tam-o'-shanter cap, much like the outfit preferred by the late Payne Stewart. Then Moore went out and joined Stewart as a winner at Pinehurst's famed No. 2 course.
After falling 3-down in the morning round, Moore rallied and eventually beat Ryan Posey on the first extra hole of their 36-hole match. The winning putt came from five feet on the first hole, which set off a raucous celebration by Moore and his family and friends in the gallery.
He added his name to the list of previous winners from Wake Forest, including Curtis Strange, Billy Joe Patton and Billy Andrade.
"It's just unbelievable," said Moore, who will be a junior when classes start. "Every time I walk through that hallway, I see those names on that plaque, and now I'm going to be on it, too. I really can't put that into words."
Deacons Eye 42nd NCAA Championship Appearance
Wake Forest will participate in one of three NCAA regionals May 18-20. The Deacons are hoping to finish high enough to qualify for the NCAA Championship for the 42nd time.
No Sophomore Jinx For Webb Simpson
Webb Simpson, the 2005 ACC Rookie of the Year, gained valuable experience earlier this spring when he participated in the PGA Tour's Bay Hill Classic. Simpson did not make the cut, but he returned to Winston-Salem with newfound confidence.
Simpson enters the NCAA East Regional after finishing second in each of his last two regular season tournaments. He finished just one stroke off the pace recently at the U.S. Collegiate Championship.
More on Simpson:
- He is ranked 19th nationally in Golfweek's individual ratings.
- Simpson leads the team and ranks among the ACC leaders in stroke average (72.09).
- Has has posted two rounds of 65 this season -- at the Mattaponi Springs Shootout and at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate. Both rounds tied for the 11th-lowest round in Deacon history.
- Simpson had four top-10 finishes and a team-best six top-20 finishes in 2005-06.
- Only one of his 27 rounds this season did not count toward the team score.
- Fifteen of Simpson's 31 total rounds were at par or better.
Reifers' Consistent, Superb College Career Nearing An End
Senior Kyle Reifers hopes to enjoy a few more rounds of golf as a collegian, but the end of his illustrious four-year career will soon end.
Reifers has been a solid performer for the Deacs all four seasons:
- Reifers will represent Wake Forest in his 46th tournament and he has logged more than 130 career rounds.
- His stroke average, with the exception of his freshman season, has remained at under 73.
- Reifers has finished in the top 10 17 times and he has finished in the top-20 26 times.
- He has shot par or better 60 times in his career.
- He was a member of the U.S. Walker Cup Team last summer.
- In the fall, Reifers won his first collegiate tournament at the Mattaponi Springs Shootout.
Head Coach Jerry Haas
Jerry Haas, a former Wake Forest All-American, is in his ninth season as head coach of his alma mater. Haas has returned Wake golf to its place among the nation's elite programs.
Haas is a long-standing member of the Wake Forest golf family, and Wake Forest golf is a big part of the Haas family. Jerry's brother, Jay Haas, led Wake Forest to back-to-back NCAA championships in the 1970s. Bill Haas -- Jay's son and Jerry's nephew -- played for the Deacons from 2001 to 2004, earning national player of the year honors two times and All-ACC honors four times. Is there another Haas out there who can help the Deacons? Perhaps. Jerry and wife Elizabeth had a son, Kyle, born August, 2004.
Players Mentioned
